SA home building slows in the third quarter

Local home builders have started fewer homes since the federal tax credits for buyers expired, according to a new report from Residential Strategies Inc.

San Antonio home builders started 1,721 new homes in the third quarter, down 500 homes from the same months last year.

The annual start rate of 7,724 new homes is down 6.1 percent compared with the same time in 2009, when builders had started 8,224 homes.

“The third quarter of 2010 represents the first full quarter of new home start activity post-tax credit stimulus,” said Cassie Gibson, RSI’s representative in the San Antonio market, in a prepared release. “The reduction in activity is simply the result of the market adjusting to more natural levels of demand, taking into account that a certain percentage of demand was pulled forward earlier this year due to the tax credit programs that were in place.”

But the good news is that sales are up, and that builders aren’t leaving much inventory on the ground.

There were 2,232 new home closings in the third Quarter of 2010, an uptick of 6.5 percent from last year.

The median new home price was $187,932, up 4.5 percent. “San Antonio homebuilders have concentrated more of their efforts at price points above $150,000 since the expiration of the tax credits earlier in 2010,” Gibson said.